The heroic Springbok captain who stopped a shoplifter and is using AI to prevent fraud

Former Springbok centre Jean de Villiers captained South Africa’s national rugby team from 2012 to 2015, earning many accolades during his rugby career.

The Springbok legend currently works in several positions, including fostering new business relationships at software-as-a-service (SaaS) and anti-fraud firm Two Dots in California.

He is also the head of philanthropy at financial services firm Citadel Investment Services, a specialist wealth management firm founded in 1993.

De Villiers made news headlines in February 2023 after chasing down a shoplifter in Paarl while wearing flip-flops.

He was born on 24 February 1981 in Paarl in South Africa’s Western Cape province and completed his schooling at the prestigious Paarl Gimnasium, which has produced many prominent Springboks.

In his youth, De Villiers was a multi-talented sportsman. He played cricket and rugby, where he batted alongside another Springbok great, Schalk Burger.

In an interview with SuperSport Cricket, De Villiers and Burger recalled their time as the opening batting partnership for Paarl Gimnasium’s first team.

“That’s where we met. Our first sporting memories were playing cricket together for our first team at school. We never played rugby together at school,” said De Villiers.

He also said the pair’s highest opening cricket partnership was 173 runs.

However, De Villiers’ focus shifted to rugby in his teenage years. He went on to represent the South African Schools team and Stellenbosch University’s Varsity Rugby side, Maties.

He rapidly advanced through the ranks of age-group rugby, playing for both the South African under-19 and under-21 teams.

While part of the SA under-21 side, he played in the 2002 IRB U21 World Championship, which South Africa won.

He also joined the Western Province provincial rugby side in 2001, where he played for Western Province and the Stormers until 2009.

De Villiers rejoined the provincial rugby team in 2011 after a short stint playing for Munster in Ireland. He remained with Western Province until 2015, when he joined the Leicester Tigers for a single season before retiring.

An illustrious Springbok career despite devastating injuries

De Villiers debuted for the Springboks against France during a match at Stade de France in 2002 at the age of 21. Unfortunately, he tore his ACL minutes into the game.

However, he returned to international rugby in 2004 and quickly became a regular in South Africa’s national rugby team.

The ACL tear he suffered in 2002 was one of many injuries he suffered playing test matches for the Springboks, but he always returned to the side following his recovery.

He featured as a prominent player during the Springboks’ comeback in 2004, when the team won the Tri-Nations, now known as the Rugby Championship.

De Villiers is also a World Cup-winning Springbok, having featured in the side during the 2007 Rugby World Cup. Unfortunately, he suffered a bicep tear in the first game, sidelining him for the tournament.

De Villiers was later featured on the 2009 Springbok Tri-Nations-winning side and participated in all of the tournament’s matches.

He was a prominent figure in the Springboks’ disastrous 2010 Tri-Nations tournament, starting some matches on the right wing and others at inside centre.

South Africa lost all three games against the New Zealand All Blacks in 2010 and won just one against Australia.

During this time, he also featured in the Stormers’ 2010 Super Rugby final team against the Bulls and the 2010 Currie Cup final against the Sharks.

De Villiers was selected as Springbok captain for the 2012 mid-year test series, when England’s national rugby team toured South Africa. Then-coach Heyneke Meyer said he was delighted about his captaincy.

In his first match as captain, played in Durban, the Springboks beat England 22-17. De Villiers scored a try in the match’s 59th minute.

He led the Springboks to a 36-27 victory against England the following week in Johannesburg. The final match, played in Port Elizabeth, was drawn 14-14.

De Villiers also led the Springboks throughout the 2012 Rugby Championship, in which the team placed third, winning two games, drawing one, and losing three.

Two of the Springboks’ losses in the tournament were at the hands of the New Zealand All Blacks, while Australia won one game against South Africa.

De Villiers’ extensive rugby career saw him feature in four Rugby World Cup tournaments: 2003, 2007, 2011, and 2015.

By the end of his Springbok career, he had accumulated 109 caps, led the team on 37 occasions, and scored 27 tries.

Life after rugby

De Villiers announced his retirement in September 2015. However, in February of that same year, he was selected as a Laureus Ambassador.

The Laureus Ambassadors are a group of over 200 current or recently retired sportspeople who have achieved sporting greatness and/or made significant contributions to the sporting community.

“As an Ambassador, I participate in Sports for Good programmes, helping to engage and inspire the young people taking part,” De Villiers writes on his LinkedIn profile. He remains a Laureus Ambassador today.

De Villiers joined Citadel Investment Services as head of philanthropy in July 2016, another title he still holds today.

“Facilitating positive action through our venture philanthropy approach, which includes our Citadel Philanthropy Foundation and Citadel Talmar Impact Foundation,” he wrote about his role at the company.

With De Villiers as head of philanthropy, Citadel Investment Services has carried out several meaningful outreach projects benefiting South Africa’s youth.

This includes making upgrades at the Blair Atholl Pre-Primary School near Lanseria and visiting Cape Town’s Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital to hand out care parcels to outpatients’ families.

“We need to encourage long-term partnerships that give back in a way that changes lives long-term — I believe that’s how we’ll change South Africa for the better,” he said.

In 2018, De Villiers co-founded myFanPark Inc., a firm dedicated to facilitating interactions between fans and celebrities.

“MyFanPark creates moments that leave a lasting impression and impact because they are unique to every person and occasion,” he said.

“Whatever way celebrities want to connect with their fans — shoutouts, social media interactions, DMs, ‘fun stuff’, video and phone calls, personalised or one-of-a-kind merch — myFanPark helps them do it.”

He also currently facilitates new business relationships at the SaaS firm Two Dots, which is based in California, US. Two Dots describes itself as an underwriting automation and AI fraud prevention agent.

“Approve more applicants, prevent fraud, and automate complex document understanding workflows,” it says.

According to De Villier’s LinkedIn page, Two Dots’ SaaS solution enables sporting bodies and sponsors back to their proprietary platform, enabling them to own their fan data and maximise their value.

De Villiers made news headlines again in 2023 after chasing down a shoplifter in Paarl while wearing flip-flops.

CCTV footage showed the former Springbok chasing after the suspect who had stolen from The Boer and Butcher in January 2023.

De Villiers and his wife are regular customers of the establishment, and they were at the checkout when the former centre spotted the man acting suspiciously.

The CCTV footage showed De Villiers chasing after the suspect before returning to the store and handing him over to security.